Polymer Group Inc., one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of specialty materials used in infection prevention, personal care and other fields, has announced a name change.
The corporation, now known as AVINTIV, has had a manufacturing facility in Benson since 1995. The Johnston County location was expanded to produce new products in 2007 and again in 2014. Previously, it had operated as Chicopee.
The most recent expansion saw the town and county secure tax incentives for the company to complete a multi-million dollar addition — making it one of Benson’s top industrial businesses.
AVINTIV is more than a new name, according to a press release sent out earlier this month, it represents a “new corporate brand and identity that aligns with a commitment to developing and delivering high-impact solutions for customers.”
Company officials call the name change the first step in a globally focused shift. The concept behind the AVINTIV name comes from the combination of the words “advanced,” “inventive” and “innovative” and representing the company’s efforts “to bring value to customers and make the world cleaner, safer, and healthier,” the release detailed.
“The unveiling of our new name is the culmination of our successful efforts to transform into a unified specialty materials company,” stated AVINTIV’s Chief Executive Officer Joel Hackney. “Over the past 18 months we have worked hard to bring four companies together to create a powerful portfolio of technologies, products and services. The AVINTIV name embodies our progress, our scale and our ambitions to continue driving growth and innovation.”
For the past several years, the former Polymer Group has developed materials that help keep people healthy by blocking or reducing the spread of infectious substances, producing materials used in a wide array of consumer and medical products and “materials that deliver a performance or environmental advantage over existing and alternative technologies for infrastructure and transportation end customers.”
AVINTIV has 23 locations in 14 countries with an employee base of more than 4,500 people.
In connection with this new name, a new logo for AVINTIV has also been unveiled. In addition, the company is changing the name of its parent company from PGI Specialty Materials Inc. to AVINTIV Inc. The company will register similar name changes for many of its operating subsidiaries, the press release noted, and will roll out a new branding and identity concept in the coming weeks and months.
Courtesy The Daily Record
